POLITICAL MOTIVES

This week on POLITICAL MOTIVES we explore the GOP’s inability to break from the toxic lies of Trump as the former President faces the upcoming indictment of the Trump Organization. We will discuss the ongoing legal jeopardy Rudy Giuliani is facing having already lost his license to practice law in the state of New York. We also are going to examine how the Republican platform of small government has life and death consequences for voters in states like Florida and Texas where lack of regulation and enforcement have resulted in vastly different public health threats. Finally, we will wrap up with a discussion on the progress of the American Jobs Act and the fate of a bipartisan infrastructure bill after President Biden’s pronouncement of an agreement with a group of 10 Democratic and Republican Senators.

This week on POLITICAL MOTIVES we review President Biden’s G7 Trip and the success of his summit with Vladimir Putin. We will also discuss the rather disingenuous pronouncements of some US Catholic Bishops who are threatening to stop giving communion to President Biden given his pro-choice stance a move that is quickly angering rank and file members of the Catholic Church. We will get into the latest dinner theatre, oh I mean bipartisan talks, on the Hill concerning the American Jobs Act and the For The People Act and discuss how bipartisanship doesn’t seem to be working so well for Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). We will also take a look at the over 500 criminal court proceedings against the 1/6 Capitol Insurrectionists and how it appears that a case for conspiracy is being built facing some of the ring leaders including none other than Roger Stone.

This week on POLITICAL MOTIVES, we discuss the challenges facing the Department of Justice as multiple abuses of subpoena power come to light. The news broken by the New York Times, reports that Donald Trump used the DOJ to launch a series of supposed leak investigations into House Intelligence Committee members, including Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Trump General Counsel Don McGahn. Apple revealed the data requests that were fulfilled in 2018. Based on the timings its clear the Justice Department must have renewed the gag order attached to Apple for several years. It would appear that Apple was prevented from revealing the existence of the subpoenas and data collection requests. It is believed that this was part of a larger leak investigation looking into Russia investigations early in Trump’s Administration.

This week we look at statements from Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) indicating he will block passage of HR1 - The For the People Act, and the infrastructure package or The American Jobs Act as well as reforming the Filibuster, putting at risk both the American ideal of Democracy and our economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. We will discuss the ludicrous reversal of an assault weapons ban in California by a partisan judge. We have also had yet another week of the Republican party spreading The Big Lie as face the genuine threat of sliding into autocracy. We will also delve into the historical background of the Filibuster and explain how this Jim Crowe era rule threatens to undermine our very Democracy leading to Minority Rule.

This week on the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 we will discuss the ongoing attempts to ignore the painful history of systemic racism in America. Why the “Red Summer” a period of brutal, racially motivated violence in America has been largely forgotten and the need for America to redress the economic and emotional toll of these racist attacks via the payment of Reparations to the families and communities destroyed by this racial cleansing.

On this week’s episode we look at the obstructionist agenda of the Republican and what it means for advancing President Biden’s legislative agenda. We will look at how the dysfunction of the filibuster inhibits the advancement of the Democratic agenda and the options for breaking through the inertia. We will look at the implications for a number of policy reforms from policing to infrastructure to voting rights reform. We will look at some of the key players public positions and the potential next steps for both Republicans and Democrats.

This week we will look at the ongoing attempts of the GOP to re-write history and deny the Jan 6th Insurrection and attack on the Capitol actually occurred. We will look at next steps for Democrats and the larger response from the media.

This past week, we have witnessed the Republican party leadership savage Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming who laid out the case for the toxicity to Democracy that The Big Lie is having on their party and more critically the country. The title of her recent OpEd says it all “The GOP is at a turning point. History is watching us.” Since the Jan 6thCapitol Insurrection, the GOP has done everything to try and turn the page on the violent attack, incited by the former guy and underpinned by his unfounded, unproven belief in The Big Lie. Since that day the Republican party has censured or attempted to censure multiple members of their party for being unwilling to engage in a what can only be described as the GOP War on Truth. Looking to sideline any Republican who is unwilling to espouse that the former guy is still the President, and that the election was rife with fraud. An outright, bald-faced, brazen lie.

CORRECTION: posted May 6th, we erroneously referred to Rep Liz Cheney as being from Arizona in this podcast, she is of course from Wyoming. We regret the error.

In any measure, President Biden’s First 100 Days has been almost a Master Class of political discipline and focus, with very few missteps. As President Biden and his surrogates most notably Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and the entire White House Communications Team lead by Press Secretary Jen Psaki have stayed focused on how they will make American’s lives better and America stronger as the country begins to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. Not since FDR’s New Deal, have we seen such a massive realignment of government priorities and policies. Within his own party President Biden is getting high marks from both the moderate and the progressive wings of his party and he is approaching his legislative agenda with a pragmatism and clear-eyed resolve. While seeking bipartisan support he had made it clear to the obstructionist Republican party that inaction is not an option putting the GOP on notice that he has the majority of American’s support. Polling continues to show that his individual policy prescriptions from Paid Family Leave to Investing in Broad Band to all paid for with tax increases against the 1% and corporations are wildly popular. The more aggressive the communications roll out the more impresses American’s are with his bold new vision. President Biden has called an end to the failed “Trickle-Down” economic policies of Republican President Ronald Reagan, now espousing a new role for government to support and strengthen America’s lower and middle class.

There have been widespread calls to “Defund the Police” that has been weaponized and politicized by Republicans who say it’s an attack on law and order and on the police themselves, They are pointing to Democrats as radicals wanting to get rid of the police. Now this rather poor branding of the effort to actually re-imagine what communities in the 21st century could look like, diminishes the real need to assess what is the role of local policing.

For our very first guest on the POLITICAL MOTIVES podcast we welcome Kathy Skutecki, a marketing consultant in the culinary industry. Kathy has been a freelance consultant, pastry chef and sous chef in the food industry for over 15 years after a stint working in the advertising agency business. She shares with us today the challenges she has faced in the last year during the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lock downs. Living in Chicago, a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan and a graduate of Loyola University of Chicago’s school of business where she received her MBA, Kathy was successful in making the transition from Madison Avenue to culinary consultant and her stories from the lock down will be familiar to many listeners. This is the first in a series of interviews we plan on doing with real life voters to understand what motivates them.

So with momentum decidedly in President Biden’s favor with the popularity of the Covid-19 Relief Bill and the upcoming American Jobs Plan, what is the GOP doing to counteract that messaging?

Well it involves Dr. Suess, Mr. Potato Head and extortion.As public outcry in the wake of Georgia Republicans passing their voter suppression legislation, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came out and told corporations “to stay out of politics” going on to clarify McConnell claimed that “corporations will invite serious consequences if they become vehicles for far-left mobs” As we all know McConnell is most afraid when those mobs go to the ballot box and exercise their voting rights. So to be clear McConnell is happy to cash those corporate donor checks but don’t you dare come out and advocate for voter access and voting rights.

All companies and all corporate leaders no matter their political persuasion should be fighting for passage of this federal legislation which will stop these state initiatives and preserve our collective voting rights. The time is now to act. As business leaders we need to join together and use our collective voices to push for this federal legislation to be passed to prohibit further erosion of our voting rights.

Thomas Jefferson said “We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.” Shouldn’t we be making it easier for all voters to participate in our democracy?